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NEWS OF THE WEEK

TECHNOLOGY

A Pennsylvania maker of gear to produce chips is shifting most manufacturing from its Irvine plant to Asia, laying off 56 people. Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc., based in the Philadelphia suburb of Fort Washington, plans to make the cuts in the next two years. A small number of manufacturing jobs will stay in Irvine, along with 150 others in engineering and marketing and sales. Kulicke & Soffa acquired the Irvine plant when it bought the assets of Orthodyne Electronics Corp. in 2008 for about $125 million plus $40 million in incentive payments.

Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is expanding production of silicon wafers for chips at its Newport Beach plant. The company is spending $15 million to add equipment to the plant and another in Israel to boost production of silicon wafers, the building blocks of semiconductors. The Newport Beach plant is expected to boost production by 3,000 wafers per month, which will bring the plant to capacity. The company’s Israel plant is expected to up production by 2,500 wafers per month. Combined, the two plants should yield 66,000 wafers per year.

An analyst downgraded Santa Ana’s STEC Inc., a maker of flash memory drives, on concerns about slowing orders from top customer EMC Corp. Needham & Co. analyst Richard Kugele lowered his rating on STEC’s shares to “hold” from “strong buy” and pared his estimates for the March quarter. Kugele now expects STEC to see profits of $3 million for the current quarter, down from a previous estimate of $17 million. The analyst sees STEC reporting sales of $47 million, down from a previous outlook of $82 million.

Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Inc., the top distributor of computer products, software and consumer electronics, reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s expectations. For the three months through Jan. 2, the company reported sales of $8.8 billion, roughly flat from a year earlier and topping analysts’ average estimate of $8.3 billion in sales. Excluding charges, Ingram swung to a profit of $107 million, up from a loss of $564 million a year earlier and surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $85 million in profits. Ingram ended the year with $911 million in cash and equivalents.

HEALTHCARE

Irvine-based Masimo Corp. reported fourth-quarter results that surpassed analysts’ projections and gave a 2010 profit forecast below Wall Street’s expectations. Masimo, which makes patient monitoring devices and supplies, said it expects its 2010 profit to come in at $56 million to $59.4 million before a onetime gain. Wall Street analysts were looking for a yearly profit of $60.5 million. Masimo said it sees yearly revenue coming in at $390 million to $405 million. Analysts had been expecting sales of $398 million.

REAL ESTATE

Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. returned to profitability in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to a refinancing plan that helped boost its bottom line. The real estate brokerage and investor posted a fourth-quarter profit of $16.8 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $262.9 million. The profits included a gain of $21.9 million on the repayment of debt. Revenue fell 5.9% to $150.6 million. For all of 2009, the company reported a loss of $79 million, compared with a loss of $331 million in 2008.

APPAREL

The Australian parent of Irvine clothing maker Billabong USA reported lower sales and profits for the six months through December citing weak North American sales and the effect of a stronger Australian dollar. Billabong International Ltd., which makes clothes inspired by surfing and skateboarding, said its six-month profit fell 15% from a year earlier to $60.6 million, after factoring in a stronger Australian dollar. Analysts in Australia had been looking for a profit of $65 million. Revenue fell 11% to $629 million. Sales in the Americas, led by the U.S., were down 6% to $276 million for the period.

OTHER NEWS

Anaheim-based mall retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. hired a former Urban Outfitters Inc. manager as senior vice president and general merchandise manager of clothes for teen girls. Christine Lee is the second key hire in as many months for Chief Executive Gary Schoenfeld, who took over the struggling retailer in June. Last month, he hired Robert Cameron, a former Levi Strauss & Co. executive, as senior vice president of marketing.

The former president of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim is becoming dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business in Richmond, Va. Former Walt Disney Co. executive Ed Grier left in October as president of the Disneyland Resort. He was replaced by George Kalogridis, the former chief operating officer for Disneyland Resort Paris.

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